Free Food for Millionaires

The novel is divided into three sections entitled Works, Plans, and Grace, respectively. What do these title names mean to you, and why do you think Lee organizes her book this way?

Lee has said elsewhere that she believes everyone is a kind of millionaire because each person possesses innate gifts or talents that make him or her wealthy. What do you think of this idea? What inherent gifts or talents do Casey, Ella, and Ted have? Are they aware of their own gifts?

Why did Ella and Ted marry? How does adultery affect their relationship? Is sexual betrayal the reason why they end the marriage? Why is Ted drawn to Delia? Why is Delia drawn to Ted?

Does Leah love her husband, Joseph? Does she love the choir director, Charles Hong? How are these feelings different and similar?

How does an Ivy League education affect Casey’s development as a young woman?

What does Joseph want for his daughters and why? Why does he drink? How does he change by the book’s end?

Casey often makes unpopular choices. Why does she make them? With which choices do you agree, and with which do you disagree?

How does immigration affect Casey’s characterization and her goals? How might this book be changed if she were not an immigrant? If she were not Korean? If she had not grown up working class?

Casey and Ella have known each other since they were little girls in Sunday school. How does their relationship change throughout the novel? What does Ella want from Casey, and what does Casey want from Ella?

When Casey meets Jay again at the Princeton reunion, how do they feel about each other? (Book III, Chapter 7)?

The book has may scenes that take place in a Korean-American church in Queens. What role does the church serve for the Han and Shim families?

How does Sabine’s relationship with Casey compare with Leah’s relationship with Casey?

The bond between Casey and Tina is a strong one, but how do they get along as sisters? What does Tina want from her life? How does she change in the novel?

There is a scene where the Han family exchanges wedding presents with the bridegroom’s family (Book II, Chapter 9). Why does Leah spend so much money on the gifts? How does this Korean practice differ from American wedding rites?

What do you think Casey and Unu will do with their lives? What would you like them to do? In the final image of the book, why do they draw a tree and flowers?